


Moving In

by mansikka



Series: Domesticity [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Moving In Together, POV Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-01-28 10:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12604924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: Alec moves in to the loft.





	Moving In

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :) I wanted domestic fluff... but then I had a couple of ideas for domestic smut, one of which got written and another that might be added to this at a later date. We'll see ;)
> 
> x

Alec moves in on a Friday evening. It shouldn’t be a big deal, Magnus tells himself, waiting for Alec to step through the portal with the last of his bags, surprised that Alec even has enough things to _need_ multiple trips. In fairness, Magnus amends when Alec steps through, his nervous smile accompanying Magnus’ own fluttering heart, it’s not _multiple_ ; this is only his second. It’s just that Alec’s things have been slowly creeping into the loft apartment that they’ll be sharing from now on for _months_ , and it already feels like he belongs there. Magnus can’t imagine Alec having any more _stuff_ than the clothes that have found a home in one half of the various closets and drawers in the bedroom, books already slotted on to shelves, or the few toiletries that, in comparison to his own, take up the tiny amount of space they need in the bathroom.

“It’s not much,” Alec says as he puts the bag down on the nearest chair and zips it open, turning back with two boxes that he extends towards him, “and I know you’ve got everything already, but I just… I wanted to contribute _something_ ,”

Magnus takes the boxes from his fingers and turns them, seeing an expensive-looking espresso machine and a two-cup set in the smaller box balanced on top, and smiles.

“You do need good coffee to start your mornings,” Magnus teases, clutching the boxes in the crook of his arm and stepping closer to kiss him in thanks.

“ _Need_ , maybe not,” Alec retorts, blushing as he wraps an arm around him pulling Magnus flush against his chest, “but _want_ , yes,”

Alec is in denial that he is the grumpiest, snappiest, more adorable sulk prior to coffee when he needs to get up in the mornings for work, it seems, Magnus thinks to himself, closing his eyes as he leans in for another kiss. It isn’t true on sleepy mornings when they have no need to rush anywhere, curled up in bed— _their_ bed, with no need for anything besides each other. But when he’s on his way to the Institute, or is called for an emergency when he’s not had enough sleep, then coffee is the only thing that stops him scowling. Or scowling as much, Magnus amends to himself, stepping back and smiling.

“What else did you bring?” Magnus asks, nodding towards the open bag in passing on the way to the kitchen, with Alec trailing behind him.

“A couple more shirts. A spare stele. Some… stuff Max gave me,”

“Max?” Magnus repeats, taking the espresso machine from the box and darting his eyes out around the kitchen, wondering where to put it. Then freezing, and turning with the machine gripped in his hands. “Where should we put this?”

Alec’s eyes grow wide with alarm. It’s a simple question, and in reality, there are only three places where the machine can logically go without being cumbersome. But this is the first _thing_ of Alec’s, the first real stamp of his on the apartment, and apparently, they’re both a little overwhelmed by the idea. Alec stares back for a few more seconds, then clears his throat, and nods over to one of the sides, before gently taking the machine from his fingers.

“Maybe here,” he says, sounding doubtful—almost like he’s waiting for Magnus’ approval, Magnus thinks with his stomach forming an uncomfortable knot.  

“Perfect,” he agrees, stepping up to wrap his arms around Alec from behind as he sets the machine up, resting his cheek on his shoulder, and smiling when he covers his hand.

“Max—not so much now, of course, ‘cos he’s older—but he used to… he used to like drawing stuff, or writing stuff, for me, Izzy, and Jace when he couldn’t see us. I keep a small file of it, and I thought… I mean I thought—”

“We have ample space, Alexander,” Magnus tells him when Alec turns back around, “you can even put it somewhere where you want to keep things private from me; I don’t mind,”

“I don’t wanna keep anything private from you,” Alec immediately fires back, and though he doesn’t say it out loud, Magnus can tell he’s wondering what private things Magnus might be keeping from _him_.

“I agree,” Magnus assures him, squeezing his hand then stepping back, going to fold up the packaging from the machine before Alec beats him to it, “there are a…  _few_ things here, that I would ask you not to touch for your own personal safety. But otherwise, you are free to do whatever, and look wherever you want. This is your _home_ , Alexander; I want you to feel that you are at home,”

“I kind of already do,” Alec replies with a tight nod, then nodding again in agreement when Magnus gestures at him with a glass, having already bought several bottles of Alec’s favorite red wine. This is going to be their first weekend living together, and though Alec is right—it _does_ feel like this loft has been Alec’s home for months already, Magnus wants to make some kind of effort to let Alec know how happy he is that they are taking this step together.  

“Good,” is all he says, however, gesturing for Alec to follow him through to the living room, pleased to see the easy way he sinks down effortlessly in to the couch.

Alec watches as he pours them both a glass, and there is an awkward silence between them that Magnus is not used to, doesn’t know how much of it is coming from himself, and how much from Alec. But pastes on what he hopes is an easier smile, and holds his glass out for Alec to clink against.

“To us,” he says, echoing Alec’s immediate smile, studying the easy way he nods and his hum of approval at the taste of the wine when he takes a sip.  

“Look at this,” Alec says, standing up again, going back to the open bag on the chair nearby and returning with an overstuffed box file as well as a small, thick, ornately covered book. And together they first go through all the things Max has given him over the years, with Magnus’ heart surging for the affectionate, careful way Alec turns over everything, and then at the book that is in fact a small photo album, filled with candid shots of Jace, Izzy, Clary, and a few others from the Institute that Magnus doesn’t remember the names of, as well as a beautiful picture of Max, Maryse, and Robert.

“We could have this printed. Made bigger. Put up on the walls here,” Magnus suggests, tapping at the edge of the photo as Alec goes to turn it.

“Maybe,” Alec replies, but there’s not much force behind it; Magnus wonders if it’s just because it’ll take him a little time to realize he can put his own personal stamp on the apartment, or if he just isn’t too in to the idea of having photos all around.

“Did you have any work you needed to take home?” Magnus asks, stuck for what else he wants to ask him, and for the first time in a long time, having no idea what he wants to talk to Alec about.

“Nothing that can’t wait till next week,” Alec shrugs, and with another pause that looks like hesitance, leans in to kiss him. Magnus closes his eyes again, concentrating on the feel of their lips pressed together, the way Alec turns a little more towards him, drops an arm behind his shoulders and moves closer. And perhaps they get a little engrossed, opening the kiss up a little, humming against each other’s mouths. It has to be why they get so distracted, and why Alec’s pulling back suddenly in alarm, looking at the cushion the other side of Magnus with a look of horror on his face.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he says, leaning to push his glass on the table then leaping up. Magnus turns, sees the splash of wine seeping into the cushion, then turns back to Alec and shrugs. “I’ll clean it. I’ll—”

Magnus snaps his fingers carelessly taking the spill away, reaches out to tangle their fingers together and tugs for him to sit back down. “It’s nothing to worry about, Alex—”

“It _is_ ,” Alec insists, slumping down beside him with a dejected sigh.

“This is neither the first nor last time something has been spilled in this apartment,” Magnus points out, aware of the gap between them and how Alec is half-turned away.

“No, but—”

“And it took me less than a second to clean it up,” Magnus adds, leaning out to push his own glass on the table then turning himself, and after hesitating, squeezing his hand around Alec’s thigh.

“You shouldn’t have to clear up after me, Magnus,” Alec sighs, hesitating himself before slotting his fingers through Magnus’.

“It was wine,” Magnus says, a little softer, “and it’s not as though you haven’t cleaned up after _me_ , and other people, here as well. With your own hands,”

“Yeah, but—”

But Magnus has shuffled closer, and is nuzzling into his cheek so Alec will know to turn his head, then kissing him once he does. And Alec looks at him without saying a word for a few seconds, then sighs hard, and drops his forehead against Magnus' with a huff.

“Is it weird that I’m really, _really_ nervous about this?” he says, flipping their hands over so their fingers are tangled together. “Not about _living_ with you; that’s just… that just seems like the most natural, obvious thing,”

“Then what?” Magnus asks, his heart skipping for Alec’s words.

“Just… what if I’m clumsy? Break something? Take too long in the bathroom when you need it, leave stuff laying around that pisses you off? Or… I don’t know, Magnus; there’s all kinds of ways I can screw this up,”

Magnus feels himself relax for the first time all evening, and wraps Alec up in his arms, smiling as he sighs into the crook of his neck. “Has it occurred to you, Alexander, that I am just as… nervous, about this as you are? For those very same reasons?”

“But this is your _home_ , Magnus—”

“And now it is yours,” Magnus retorts, running a reassuring palm over his back, and smiling when Alec shuffles even closer, “in fact, it _has_ been yours, for a while now. We’re just… making it official,”

He hadn’t even really asked him, Magnus thinks to himself, reveling in the idea that he no longer has to second-guess if Alec will be staying, not over-plan invitations to keep him there, or wonder if he’s got sick of his company and wants to be somewhere else. He didn’t even have a gesture for him like giving a key, because Alec had one of those already with his insistence that he didn’t expect Magnus to open him a portal every time he was coming and going.

But they’d been sat here on this very couch, Magnus thinks, tucked up together reading, and it had seemed the easiest thing in the world for Magnus to say, _I like knowing you’ll be here when I wake up in the morning_. And for Alec to respond with, _I like knowing I don’t have to go_. And it had been as simple as that; his answer of, _then don’t go_ , put a smile on Alec’s face that was full of tentative excitement, and they’d spent the rest of the day curled up together planning when Alec would pick up the last of his things from the Institute, with Magnus rearranging the furniture and decorating with a flourish of his fingers until they settled on something they both liked.  

“You know this is the first time I have really lived with someone in a long, long time, right? It’s been so long that I… so _very_ long,” Magnus corrects himself, smiling a little, “that I have just as many fears of… _pissing you off_ , as you say, as you do?”

“You do?” Alec asks, playing with Magnus’ fingers against his lap.

“Of course,” Magnus smiles, leaning to press a kiss to his forehead, “just because I have… experience, does not make this any less of a new experience for me,”

“I guess,” Alec replies, and very slowly lifts his head to give a shy smile back.  

“So I want you to feel at home,” Magnus adds, “because this _is_ your home. If you want to move something, or buy something, or… have people over—”

“Jace did ask me three times yesterday about us having a house-warming,” Alec smiles, visibly beginning to relax. “Apparently, you know how to throw a party,” he adds, laughing, and Magnus is left wondering exactly what Jace has said to him for the expression on his face.

“It’s a good idea,” Magnus tells him, echoing that smile, “we can—”

“Maybe in a couple weeks,” Alec says, immediately cutting him off, then leaning in for a kiss, “I don’t wanna… I don’t think I wanna share you— _this_ —with anyone else just yet,”   

“We have all weekend together,” Magnus points out, slotting his fingers through Alec’s hair and pulling him closer, “where we don’t have to see anyone. Where we don’t even have to step foot outside this apartment if you don’t want to,”

“Sounds good,” Alec agrees, then wraps his arms tight around him, pulling Magnus into a hug.

 


End file.
